The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs), developed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), are the first international instrument to apply a human rights-based approach for the use and control of land, fisheries and forests. The guidelines promote social stability, housing security, rural development, environmental protection, and sustainable economic development. More about the guidelines in the context of Eastern Europe can be found here.
The integration of the VGGTs into national legislation is a complex and dynamic process, requiring the incorporation of various aspects of natural resource management and legal regulation. In this article, we describe Romania’s experience in implementing the VGGT principles.
The land tenure landscape in Romania
Rich in natural resources, Romania is able to grow a wide range of crops and develop various livestock industries, making it the sixth largest agricultural country in Europe. It is not surprising then that farming plays such an important role in its economy, accounting for about 4.5% of GDP and employing 23% of the country’s workforce.
At the same time, however, its land tenure and land use structure is characterised by significant fragmentation – which brings with it considerable challenges. For instance, more than 96% of farms – the average size of which is just 3.65 hectares (substantially smaller than in other EU countries) – cultivate less than 10 hectares of land, and more than 75% of farms smaller than five hectares cover only 30% of the total agricultural land area. In contrast, 1% of large farms control the use of half of the country’s arable land. Moreover, large agricultural enterprises with an average land use of more than 100 hectares receive most of the state subsidies and support provided under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
Against this backdrop, Romania’s adoption and implementation of the VGGT principles was extremely important – but how did has this process, which requires a systematic approach, unfolded in real time? And has it been successful? Let’s find out…
Romania’s path to VGGT implementation
In 2012, Romania joined other countries in developing and officially endorsing the VGGTs. The subsequent signing and approval of the guidelines was an important signal of Romania’s intention to integrate international standards into national legislation, and emphasised the country’s commitment to strengthening food security and responsible management of natural resources.
However, in order to fulfil the obligations set out in the guidelines, Romania was required to adapt its national policies and legislation to the articles of the VGGTs to ensure they encompass provisions for transparency in land management, protecting the rights of vulnerable groups, and establishing fair mechanisms for land distribution. To this end, the government initiated a process of analysing existing policies governing land use and natural resource management with the aim of assessing their compliance with new international standards. In so doing, a number of gaps in the legislation that needed to be urgently addressed were revealed, especially in the area of protecting the rights of small groups.
Implementation in reality
In accordance with VGGT Article 15.3, which emphasises the importance of national policies that prevent excessive concentration of land and ensure equal access to resources for all segments of the population, Romania adopted Law No. 17/2014 on the sale of agricultural land. The law not only regulates the sale of agricultural land, but also establishes a procedure for the priority of land purchase (pre-emption right), guided by seven categories of priority buyers, such as relatives, tenants, neighbours, and young farmers. If none of these expresses an intention to purchase the land plot, the sale can involve third parties, which means that farmland can be freely sold to any natural or legal person, essentially making it a “free” sale. Nevertheless, despite these approved legislative processes, the concentration of land in the hands of a single agribusiness is still widespread, and the process of “leakage” of property to individuals or groups continues. It is therefore imperative for the government to implement the relevant legislative changes, guided by the VGGT principles.
Romanian legislation often does not take into account specific local conditions either, which leads to violations of the rights of local residents. Another example of the inconsistency of Romanian legislation with the VGGT principles is the difficulty in securing per-hectare payments under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) programme, which is the most common instrument of support for farmers in the country. Furthermore, small farmers often have to overcome difficulties related to eligibility when receiving support, including, among others, the minimum size of the land plot, productivity, and compliance with agro-environmental standards. In addition, administrative procedures and reporting are not always accessible to farmers due to a lack of resources or knowledge of document management. Consequently, small farmers are not always able to take advantage of the EU CAP programme and, as a result, do not have access to financial support.
Similarly, despite Romania enacting Law No. 18/1991 on the Land Fund in 2015 in accordance with the guidelines’ directive regarding the protection of informal and customary rights, which cover communal land, access to forests for food collection, and farms that may not have legal registration but have been used for decades, there is little progress in practice. According to the law, which sets out the procedures for legalising land rights for actual users without official registration, persons who own land but do not have official documents may apply for the establishment of ownership, but must provide evidence of actual ownership, such as payment of taxes or registration in agricultural registers. However, such bureaucratic obstacles and high costs make this process inaccessible to many, while the lack of clear provisions in the legislation on customary land rights makes it difficult to protect them legally.
An important element of implementing the VGGTs is raising awareness and training public officials and local communities. Even so, despite the guidelines’ emphasis on the importance of education programmes and training and awareness campaigns for effective and responsible natural resource management, the implementation of these in Romania is limited. Rural population and small farmers have little awareness of their rights, and public officials responsible for natural resource management are not always adequately trained in international standards. In fact, trainings and seminars to promote sustainable natural resource management practices have only been implemented in the country with the support of international organisations. Further, they were fragmented and did not provide for a systematic approach.
In terms of contributing to the dissemination of information on responsible management and use of natural resources, the vital role civil society plays cannot be overstated. Eco Ruralis, an association of small farmers and activists, in particular has been active in organising campaigns, seminars and trainings to raise awareness of rural populations’ rights with regard to access to land. The association also coordinated international volunteering programmes such as Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), which made it possible to work on organic and traditional farms, thereby supporting the development of organic agriculture and knowledge exchange. Nevertheless, civil society organisations often depend on international assistance, which makes their activities vulnerable to funding instability. They also lack the resources to conduct large-scale trainings and educational campaigns that could effectively reach a larger population.
What next?
Even though implementation of the VGGTs in Romania has been ongoing since their adoption in 2012, the process of adapting international standards to national legislation is gradual and requires a systematic approach.
Currently, there are a number of significant problems with ensuring access to natural resources for landowners and small farmers, protecting their rights, and implementing agroecological practices. The main challenge, however, remains the transparency of land transactions and the fight against the concentration of land in large agricultural companies, which contradicts the VGGT principles of equal access to resources. In light of this, further efforts to implement the VGGTs should therefore focus on increasing legal certainty, increasing the number of educational programmes and trainings to raise public awareness, and ensuring the right of citizens to participate in natural resource management processes.